resent President a monarch? Of course the
President will not consent to this. But leaving this aside let us
suppose that the President, in consideration of the permanent
welfare of the country, is willing to sacrifice everything to
satisfy the wish of the people, do we expect that he will become a
mere figurehead? A figurehead monarch is, to adapt the saying of the
west, a fat porker, a guinea-pig, that is, good as an expensive
ornament. Will it be wise to place so valuable a personage in so
idle a position at a time when the situation is so extremely
critical?

Even if we are willing to suffer the President to become a
figurehead it will remain a question whether a responsible cabinet
can ever be formed. I do not say that the President will not allow a
responsible cabinet to exist under him. My contention is that there
is no one, within my knowledge, who commands respect enough and is
capable of taking over the responsibilities of President Yuan. For
who can replace the Great President in coping with our numerous
difficulties? If we select an ordinary man and make him bear the
great burdens, we will find that in addition to his lack of ability
rendering him unequal to the occasion, his lack of dominating
influence will disqualify him from exercising authority. It was for
the purpose of meeting the requirements of the existing conditions
that the Cabinet system was changed into a Presidential system--an
excellent substitution for a weakened administration. Conditions in
the next two or three years will not be very much different from
what they are now. Therefore, the contention that the administration
will be changed overnight for the better after a change in the form
of the State is, if not a wicked untruth to deceive the common
people, the ridiculous absurdity of a bookworm. Thus the theory that
a constitutional monarchy will immediately follow, if the President
consents to become a monarch, is also fallacious.

Can it be possible that those who are now holding up the
constitutional principle as a shield for their monarchical views
have a different definition for the term "constitution"? The Ching
(Manchu) Dynasty considered itself as possessing a constitution in
its last days. Did we recognize it as such? Let me also ask the
critics what guarantee they have to offer that the